Here's something worth reading from the Engage:Boomers blog: Winning With Boomers Takes Heart. The key point:
Typically, around age 50 we see a shift away from "success" and more towards "significance" as an underlying behavioral motivation.... [This] shift isn't a generational thing, it's a developmental thing. Reach age 50 and beyond, and one's motivation for many decisions in life shifts.
One reason for a lot of off-target fundraising is that it's created by under-50 professionals who are largely in the grips of the success motivation -- not the significance motivation that drives the behavior of most donors.
They often fail to grasp that there's a meaningful difference, and that the way you motivate one is not the same way you'd motivate the other. Without understanding the donor audience and its different way of thinking, fundraising is an exercise in wishful thinking.
Success-motivated fundraising would be full of facts and proof. It would say, This is going to work! We can prove it.
Significance-motivated fundraising would be emotional, story-driven, and highly focused on the donor. It would say, This is how you make a difference. This matters!
It's an important difference, and the fundraiser who grasps it always does better.
